


Just a Smile

by Happy_Ocelot



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Genin Era, Missing Moments, Post-Naruto Time Skip | Naruto Shippuden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29263956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happy_Ocelot/pseuds/Happy_Ocelot
Summary: "You changed me! Your smile saved me! If it's to protect you, I'm not afraid of dying...because I love you."Hinata finds out just how powerful a smile can be.
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	Just a Smile

**Author's Note:**

> A little one-shot for my OTP. Because how many people can say that someone's smile saved them? It's my favorite Naruto quote, and one of my favorite moments in the anime/manga. :)
> 
> Please review! :)

_"You changed me! Your smile saved me! If it's to protect you, I'm not afraid of dying...because I love you."_

* * *

Throughout the course of time, a lot of things make a deep and profound impact on one's life.

One's childhood, one's parents.

One's genes, one's hair, and one's eyes.

For the Hyuuga, one's eyes were quite significant.

But for Hinata, the smallest and most trivial thing of all proved more powerful than anyone could have ever thought – more than she could have ever thought.

Perhaps the sequence of events that led to her jumping in front of Pain, ready to give up her life...perhaps it wasn't really a sequence of events, but just a collage of memories.

Just a collage of smiles.

* * *

Jeers and shrieks of delirious laughter rang throughout the classroom. The object of their scorn was none other than...

Her.

Hinata burrowed deeper and deeper into her beige coat. She closed her eyes and imagined that the clothing was nothing but the underground itself and pretended that that she was an earthworm, insignificant, noticed by no one and noticing no one, away from the cruel bright light that seemed so much like the vicious smiles on her classmates' faces.

Iruka-sensei cleared his throat disapprovingly at the unwanted audience. "That's enough!" he called out. "You all better stop laughing right now or I'll assign everyone to yard cleaning duty for a month!"

The entire class let out a collective groan, but they did shut up. No one wanted Iruka-sensei to get mad again or worse, assign them to bathroom cleaning duty or something.

Iruka turned back to Hinata, a kind smile crinkling his eyes and the edges of his mouth. He placed his warm hand on her shoulder, a small comfort, and bent his head slightly to whisper into her ear.

"If you want, I can give you some extra teaching for the Transformation Jutsu, Hinata," he said quite discreetly. "Don't worry at all; when I was a kid, I couldn't do it either."

Hinata couldn't bring herself to speak. Why was Iruka-sensei being nice to her? She failed. She didn't deserve kindness.

"Just come into the classroom when all the other kids are playing, and I can help you out, okay, Hinata?" Iruka-sensei patted her on the head and sent her back to her seat.

The next person who was called on to perform the Transformation Jutsu was someone who made her heart skip a beat.

And just like her, his Transformation Jutsu wasn't any good either, but unlike her, when faced with the derisive laughter of their peers, Naruto made an akanbe gesture at them, earning a rebuke (and a head thwack) from Iruka-sensei.

Her stomach squirmed. She didn't know _how_ he was able to brush off their taunts so easily...then she remembered how last week, during a similar incident with shuriken throwing gone wrong, he'd done the same thing – but then later he sat gloomily on the swing, all by himself, while the other children laughed and shrieked happily, immersed in their silly games.

Her heart skipped a beat once again when he showed up for the extra class an hour later as well.

But she supposed that it was no surprise: Naruto was even worse at ninjutsu than she was.

He skipped into the room, far too excited for someone who was there because he was so bad at the subject that his teacher needed to set aside special practice time just for him. It would have never happened in the Hyuuga clan. They'd long since written Hinata off as a lost cause when she didn't show the promise expected of her as the future heiress.

Iruka-sensei shuffled into the classroom a few minutes later, a harried expression on his face.

"All right, Naruto, Hinata," he said firmly, but not unkindly. "Let's see what you need fixed."

The practice was a misery to her. No matter how hard she tried, her imitation of the Third Hokage was just as terrible as Naruto's had been. But where Naruto's ridiculous attempt gave the venerable village leader cod roe shaped lips, her imitation gave him the whispiest and scraggliest of beards, and she somehow made his hairline recede even more than it was in real life.

"Release!" said Iruka-sensei, dispelling her so-called "Sandaime" in a puff of smoke after a dozenth attempt gone wrong. He sighed heavily. Hinata's stomach churned in black guilt as she took in the dark bags under her sensei's eyes and how the long scar across his nose seemed even deeper than usual.

Why was she like this? What was _wrong_ with her? She was responsible for those tired, tired eyes. She was making Iruka-sensei disappointed. He had plenty of other students to teach, plenty of other things to worry about, and here she was, selfishly gobbling up his time like she was a black hole –

"Iruka-sensei, can we have Ichiraku tonight?" broke in Naruto.

Iruka-sensei frowned at the blonde hellion. "Naruto, you need more practice, you know."

"When we eat ramen together, things make so much more sense to me and I can do all the things that seemed hard before!" he argued.

Iruka-sensei burst out laughing at Naruto's silly reasoning, and, to Hinata's shock, _he ruffled Naruto's hair._

"All right," he relented. "But you can't eat more than five bowls, you hear me?"

"Awwww." Naruto's groan made Hinata want to laugh (but she didn't). She was so transfixed by the odd sight in front of her that it was with a shock that she realized that Naruto was somehow suddenly staring directly at her, beautiful sky blue eyes gazing into her wintery white.

"You should come too, Hinata!" he said cheerfully. He was in her personal bubble. How did he get so close to her without her noticing? Was she _that_ spacey? She could _feel_ her cheeks turning a molten red...

Then he gave her a radiant smile.

"I bet it's the same with you, right, Hinata? Like, the Transformation Jutsu is so hard, ya know. But I'm sure that if you eat ramen with us, it'll cheer you up and you can do it tomorrow. It happened like that with my shuriken throwing last week, ya know!"

He kept smiling that big, bright, toothy smile and kept staring directly into her white, white eyes. Somehow, she got the feeling that he knew _exactly_ what was going on in her head – that spiral of self-loathing that kept dancing in her thoughts.

She shivered.

But he was right. Ichiraku Ramen did cheer her up.

The next day, Naruto did successfully perform a...Transformation Jutsu. She supposed that it could be considered a Transformation Jutsu. Why he turned into a beautiful blonde woman wearing absolutely nothing was a mystery to her though. Maybe to get Iruka-sensei to pass out from his massive nosebleed?

Then Naruto turned and winked at her, earning another rebuke and head thwap from a newly conscious and incredibly irate Iruka-sensei.

When it was her turn to do the Transformation Jutsu, her Sandaime had his full beard and hairline intact, once and for all. She'd finally gotten it right!

Naruto caught her eye again and he smiled. The smile seemed cloaked in a warm light, not a cruel one. The kind of light that even an earthworm wouldn't mind basking in.

She couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

"Hinata-sama, you're the sheltered child of the Main Family, aren't you?" Neji nii-san asked.

"W-what?"

Her mouth felt dry and the world was all blurry.

Of all the people in the world, why was it that she was forced to face _him_?

"A leopard doesn't change its spots," Neji nii-san said calmly. "Once a failure, always a failure. A weak person cannot become strong."

Her heart thudded slowly in her chest. Time stood still. Words were coming out of Neji's nii-san's mouth, and she could hear them, but they all seemed garbled and distorted.

"It's because humans don't change their nature that different people are born, and it's why we've come up with words like 'elite' and 'failure.'"

Beads of sweat dripped down Hinata's face.

"It doesn't matter who you are," her cousin continued. Surprisingly, there was no malice in his voice. His words had a professorial tone to them, as though he was teaching a poor, confused student. "We're all judged by our appearance, talent, personalities, just as we judge others in turn. Yes, it's discrimination, based on unchanging factors, but we have no choice but to live within the boundaries that others have set for us."

With each word, she felt an awful, smothering cocoon wrapping around her.

She was being caged in, just as Neji nii-san was caging himself in.

_Once a failure, always a failure. A weak person cannot become strong._

_I just wanted...to change myself._

"...the courage you're displaying now is just a bluff! In the deepest part of your heart, you want nothing more than to run away."

The thick, bulky jacket that hung heavily on her frame did not shield her from the cold.

 _"To escape my stare, you averted your eyes. You glanced towards the upper left. You remembered a past painful experience. When you glanced towards your lower right, you were imagining_ _your physical and mental agony. Basically, you recalled those previous memories, and on the basis of that, you imagined the outcome of this match. You foresaw your own defeat!"_

The arms in front of her body were to shield herself, and the way she touched her lips was an expression of the deep agitation of her heart, a defensive mechanism to soothe herself.

"You can never change – "

_She could never change._

"YES, YOU CAN!"

It was Naruto.

He was _not_ smiling.

"You can't just arbitrarily decide stuff like that about people, you fool!" he roared.

A bright, fuzzy light temporarily distracted her.

"HINATA, SHOW HIM! TAKE HIM DOWN!"

* * *

Her heart couldn't win out against Neji nii-san's strike.

But she never stopped fighting. She never went back on her word or her ninja way.

So maybe she did win, in a way.

She stared dazedly up at the ceiling as her heart went haywire. A warm hand grasped her cold one.

It was Naruto. He was staring at her in a way that he'd never done before.

_Naruto-kun...did I change...a little?_

She thought she did. She didn't feel as weak as before, anyway.

So she smiled a little and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

It was early morning. The hospital wasn't too crowded yet. So far, aside from Kiba, Shino, Kurenai-sensei, her father, and her sister, no one had actually visited her yet for the past few days.

She supposed that it was because they were all roped up in rebuilding Konoha after the botched invasion by Suna and Oto. They'd lost a sizeable chunk of their forces, and on top of that, the Third Hokage.

But she couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart that had absolutely nothing to do with her physical injuries. Even though on most days, she felt as invisible as an earthworm, it still hurt to feel confirmation of that fact, reflected in how barely anyone visited her.

The door creaked open.

"Be quiet, you'll wake up Hinata-sama, fool."

Wait...that was...

Neji nii-san, slightly bruised, and Naruto, slightly battered, both walked into the room. Her older cousin was balancing a tray with a teapot and three cups in his hands.

Panic seized her lungs. Her breath became shallow.

Why...why was Neji nii-san here? Her heart started hammering erratically again, just as it had during their match when he'd disrupted the chakra flow to her heart.

Within a flash, Naruto was by her side. "Whoa, whoa, Hinata, you look like you're gonna pass out!" He squeezed her shoulders comfortingly. "Just...just breathe, okay?"

Hinata gulped up air like she was starving. Her heartbeat slowly went back to normal. That...that was right. Naruto was with her. They were all in the hospital. She would be okay.

Neji nii-san stared at the ground.

Back during the match, she'd been the one to avert her gaze. Neji nii-san glanced towards the upper left, then the lower right.

What agonizing pain was he imagining?

She kept watching him discreetly out of the corner of her eye as her ears registered Naruto launching into an animated tale about how he was sorry that he hadn't been to see her sooner, but he ran into someone called "Pervy Sage" who had been teaching him how to summon toads, but that he'd only been able to summon wriggly little tadpoles for three weeks and how he'd finally managed to summon the "Toad Boss" and how this had come in really handy against Gaara, that terrifying Suna genin that Team 8 had run into in the Forest of Death, who apparently had the power to turn into a giant sand tanuki.

Hinata's lips twitched. Naruto sounded like a loud, bright weirdo when he talked like this.

She started slightly as Neji nii-san gently pushed a cup of green tea into her cold hands.

"It's good for you," he said in a quiet, small voice. "The doctor says that it has antioxidants. It improves heart health."

Neji nii-san was a mirror of her during their match – the twitching lower lip, the pearls of sweat running down his face, the jerky movements of his white eyes.

"Anyway, I have to get going now! Kakashi-sensei called us all for a mission!" Naruto shot them both a broad, toothy grin before hurrying away.

To her surprise, Neji nii-san managed to make a grimace that may have been an attempt at a smile, right back at Naruto.

There was a deep silence between the two of them.

"Hinata-sama..."

Neji nii-san, so far, hadn't yet looked directly into her face. He slowly stepped out of his chair and got down into a low bow.

"I'm sorry for harming you...and for not visiting you sooner," he said. "I...I..."

He straightened up. "Naruto...told me. Of your suffering. Somehow he saw it, but I didn't."

For the first time that day, he stared directly into her eyes.

"Somehow, with a bright smile, he was able to change his fate. Will you allow me...to help you change your fate?"

...

"I can help you train in jyuuken," he said hesitantly.

...

"Hinata-sama?"

...

With a bright smile, Naruto had somehow changed not just his fate, but those of others.

She thought back to that bright summery afternoon in Iruka-sensei's classroom, many years ago, and a Transformation Jutsu she'd finally gotten right after a bright smile and a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

Hinata hunched up in her jacket, the beautiful violet one she'd received from her teammates in a thoughtful gesture many months ago.

Kiba let out a bored yawn and glanced up at the overcast sky. "What the hell is wrong with Team 7?" he muttered in irritation. "I thought we agreed to meet up at seven in the morning for the mission, not...uh..." He glanced at his wrist, then realized that he didn't have a watch.

"Kiba, it is now at least two hours past seven," said Shino. "Why? Because – "

"Okay, okay, whatever," Kiba snapped. "But it's been a long time and they're standing us up." He scuffed his sandals into the ground. "Kurenai-sensei never keeps _us_ waiting..."

"I'm sure that they have a real reason for being late, Kiba-kun," Hinata said charitably. "I mean, Kurenai-sensei specially asked Kakashi-sensei to substitute for her, so they'll definitely show up soon, right?"

She was correct. They showed up five minutes later, Kakashi-sensei reading one of those Icha Icha novels that her aunt had specifically warned her not to read because she was "too young for them." Naruto and Sakura followed closely behind him, both wearing looks of deep irritation.

"You're late!" Kiba yelled, pointing a finger accusingly at Team 7. Akamaru barked in agreement. Naruto and Sakura both scowled at their sensei, who nonchalantly looked up.

"Oh, sorry, sorry," he said, chuckling slightly. "It's just that there was this cat and it was – "

"Right, that's a lie!" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison, almost like clockwork. Kakashi just smiled – somehow, it was quite obvious to tell, despite the mask covering three-fourths of his face.

Hinata felt torn between laughter at the funky dynamic that Team 7 shared and an odd pang in her stomach.

"Why _are_ you late anyway? The real reason," Kiba asked. "It isn't like it takes a ton of time to prepare for a mission like escorting a merchant."

Naruto and Sakura just gave Team 8 a funny look. Naruto opened his mouth, but then Sakura shook her head in resignation.

"Right, you guys have a normal sensei, so I guess you don't know," Sakura said.

"Kurenai-sensei isn't normal," Kiba muttered. Sakura shot him a cross look.

"Anyway, something you should know is that there's normal time and there's Kakashi-sensei time," she continued. "Normal time is...well, normal time."

"And what is Kakashi-sensei time?" asked Shino.

"Basically, when Kakashi-sensei says that he'll show up 'soon,' what it really means is that he'll show up..." She rummaged in her pouch and pulled out a scroll, which upon being unfurled, showed some extremely complicated mathematical formula. "Just plug in whatever time he says he'll show up into this formula and you'll get the real time he'll show up."

Kiba was staring at the scroll with something like admiration. "Wow, really? I thought Kurenai-sensei drinking while training us was annoying..."

"Now, now," Kakashi-sensei said, planting a hand on Kiba's shoulder, his smile somehow kinda friendly but kinda scary. "I wouldn't want to tell Kurenai about what her cute little students think of her..."

Kiba gulped and muttered something about terrifying practice sessions involving genjutsu.

They set off, Hinata marveling at the normalcy of the situation. Even though Asuma-sensei was dead, Kurenai-sensei was on medical leave due to her pregnancy, and the Akatsuki were roaming around freely hunting jinchuuriki – hunting _Naruto_ – the cheery Konoha sunshine still filtered through the leaves and the sky was a deep cornflower blue.

Up ahead, Kakashi-sensei was trying his best to entertain the merchant they were supposed to be escorting, a grumpy old bearded man from Watari Town in the countryside of the Land of Fire. His best was obviously not enough, as the old man was scowling and occasionally stopping to snarl at stray travelers who would cross the dirt path. Sakura and Kiba were in a loud argument over what Shino's true eye color was under those sunglasses (Shino did not contribute to the discussion, but Hinata could tell from his relaxed posture that he was happy that someone was finally paying attention to him).

She frowned, looking around to see what Naruto was up to, then yelped as he came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You can see so far with your Byakugan, but you startle so easily, ya know?" He laughed. "You're so silly, Hinata." The affection in his tone caught her by surprise.

"D-don't sneak up on me like that, Naruto-kun," she muttered, wrapping her arms around her midsection.

"Okay, okay," he said, walking along with her at a slow, leisurely pace. "But you always do that...that thing." He made a sweeping gesture.

"What?"

"You always hug yourself like that, like you want to hide or something." He frowned and cupped his chin. "Why?"

Hinata squirmed uncomfortably. She had no idea that Naruto noticed that about her. She always pegged him as somewhat oblivious to her very existence.

"I bet you're thinking that I didn't notice," Naruto said. "That I'm oblivious or something, right?" He smiled mischievously at her.

"How...how did you know?"

"It's all in your eyes, ya know! You always seem to get so down on yourself. But I can't really figure out why. It's so confusing to me."

Hinata felt her face heating up. Not only did Naruto somehow figure out what she was thinking (just by looking at her _eyes_ , apparently), but seemed as though he'd been...watching her. Enough to notice all her behavioral quirks, and she didn't even notice. Who was the oblivious one here?

"You always slouch kind of like a turtle, but I know that you're really strong and brave!" Naruto's insightful rambling momentarily brought her pause.

"Like that time you fought Neji! You were really cool back then," he said, in what seemed to be a... _gushing_ voice. "You were like that girl in that movie that came out a few months ago! The girl with the vibrating palm technique! What was it called?"

"The movie was called _Touch of Death_ , Naruto-kun," she said quietly.

"Yeah! _Touch of Death_ , the way you Hyuuga just press someone's vital points and _bam_ , you can kill them! It's so awesome! But even when Neji struck you in the heart, you got up anyway! Like a superhero!"

...

If anyone would have asked her, Hinata would have told them that she was the _least_ likely to be a "superhero." Naruto was so strange, seeing such nonexistent strength in her.

He kept smiling at her, a big, bright smile that was oddly similar to the one she'd seen him wear on one sunny afternoon, back when they were stuck together in Iruka-sensei's classroom, practicing their Transformation Jutsu gone wrong.

"There you go again! So shy and dark! You really are a total weirdo!" he said. Naruto, for some reason, was acting as though his words were a compliment. "You're like the unlikely heroine who shows up at the last minute to save the day!" He rubbed the back of his head.

_The unlikely heroine who shows up at the last minute to save the day...?_

"I'm predicting it now! Hinata, one day, you'll save the world!" He pointed his index finger towards the sky, his action mimicking that of the main character's love interest in that movie.

Naruto was so strange, seeing such nonexistent strength in her, in her shyness, her darkness, her weirdness. She couldn't believe that he would look at all of that and still think that she was a _superhero_.

The problem was, she thought, when he spoke like that, she could almost believe him.

Naruto just wouldn't stop smiling. It was like staring into distilled sunlight.

She smiled back.

Yeah...

She could believe...

That she was strong.

* * *

Konoha was nothing but a smoking ruined crater, the buildings and people that had made up its life pushed out like trash through the village's Aun gates.

Pain had attacked the village, and Naruto was fighting him all by himself.

Many, many things flashed through her mind as she jumped in between Naruto and Pain, but the only thing that stood out, when she looked back on the whole fight, was just Naruto's big, bright smile. The kind of bright light that even an earthworm wouldn't mind basking in.

_You can't just arbitrarily decide stuff like that about people, you fool!_

_You always slouch kind of like a turtle, but I know that you're really strong and brave!_

_HINATA, SHOW HIM! TAKE HIM DOWN!_

With a bright smile, somehow Hinata was able to change her fate.

* * *

It was early morning, and the makeshift tents doubling as the village's first aid centers were packed to bursting. Too many were injured, but no one was dead. Even though Sakura had healed the deadly chest wound she'd sustained when Pain had stabbed her with his black rod, she was ordered to take bed rest for the next few weeks to ensure that no complications would result from how she recklessly rushed headlong into the battle.

A lot of people had come to see her – Kiba, Shino, Kurenai-sensei, Guy-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Lee, Tenten, Neji nii-san, her father, her sister, Team 10, and even the new recruit on Team 7, Sai, who had tagged along with Sakura and Captain Yamato.

Her heart still hurt though. There was one person she wanted to see more than anyone else, and as far as she knew, he was nowhere to be seen for the past two days.

Then the flap of the tent opened slightly.

"Be quiet, you'll wake up Hinata-sama, fool."

It was Neji nii-san and Naruto.

Her cousin was once again balancing a tray containing a teapot and three cups in his hands.

Her heart was beating erratically.

Naruto was staring directly at her. And he looked miserable. His spiky blonde hair was messy and unruly (although that was normal). His eyes were bloodshot and droopy, ringed with dark circles, and his hands were shaking with tremors. His usual bright, cheerful, happy-go-lucky nature seemed to have totally vanished.

Just what had happened to him?

Neji nii-san shot Naruto a penetrating look with his white eyes.

"The idiot was moping around for the past few days. He wanted to visit you, but your tent was always packed with people, Hinata-sama," he said. "Luckily, there aren't too many people around in the early morning."

He set the tray on a stool next to her cot. "Well, I'll be going now. Guy-sensei wants us all for some youthful nonsense." He turned and left, muttering under his breath.

And then the breath was sucked out of her lungs.

Naruto's arms were wrapped around her in a bone-crushing hug.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

"I...I thought you were dead." He sounded like he was suffering from a severe head cold.

"..."

He didn't let go of her. "First it was Ero-sennin...and then it was you...and then I..." He sniffled. "You...you saved me, ya know? I would have died back then...but then you came in, out of nowhere."

She laughed quietly.

He looked up at her and blinked, finally letting go.

"I...you shouldn't think of me as a superhero anymore, Naruto-kun," she mumbled. "I didn't save you at all. All I did was end up in the first aid tent."

He scowled. He'd never done that before. He only ever smiled at her. "You _were_ ," he said with a frightening vehemence. "You were just like that main character in that movie." He wrapped her in a hug again. "You showed up at the last minute to save the day."

She tentatively moved to hug him back. He finally gave her a smile, even though it was very watery. She was pleased to see it again.

Because...

Yeah...

When he smiled at her that way, she could actually imagine...

That she was strong.


End file.
